Software applications can edit content items such as images, video, audio, documents, and the like, that are captured using devices, e.g., digital cameras, stored as images files, e.g., in JPG format, and transferred to storage devices. The software applications can retrieve an image file stored in a storage device and display the image file in a display device of a computer system. An image can be displayed according to one or more changeable attributes, e.g., sharpness, brightness, color, and the like, where each attribute can be assigned an attribute value. Users can change how an image appears by changing an attribute value corresponding to an attribute related to the image using user interface controls offered by software applications. In general, the set of particular attribute values used to display an image can be treated as an “image state.” If a change is made to one or more of the attribute values, a new image state results.